Weird TSA: The Strangest and Scariest Carry-on Items of 2013

The items confiscated from fliers by the TSA in 2013 includes some very strange and scary items —loaded guns included.

Human skull fragments. A suicide bomber vest. A menacing-looking mace that could have been a prop at a Comic-Con. These are among the strange items TSA confiscated from fliers at US checkpoints last year. And, oh, there were also 1,831 guns grabbed, 81% of them loaded.

In a tally of contraband that the TSA released in a blog post today, the agency also gave more details on the variety of weapons and other banned items it found in people’s carry-ons. The number of firearms had already been extensively reported, as it represented a 16.5% increase over the previous year. However, as usual, the TSA didn’t explain how many of these passengers had simply forgotten – or weren’t aware of — the rules, or whether they were up to no good. Security at airport lobbies and check-in areas outside the checkpoint remains a concern, especially in light of the tragic death of a TSA officer at LAX last year.

Still, some of the loot seized by the TSA — see photos and a complete accounting here — is almost comical; what’s a “WWll era bazooka” doing in someone’s carry-on? (You’ll be relieved to know it was inert.) The suicide bomber vest, it turns out, was being used as a training device by an instructor in explosives. The skull fragments weren’t a threat necessarily, but their discovery briefly turned the checkpoint into a crime scene, TSA reported.

During my stint as a screener, I saw my share of knives and other potential weapons, mostly lighters and Swiss Army knives, whose owners inevitably said they’d forgotten about the rules. Still, one of my colleagues bagged one of the weirder ones: a collection of electric parts, loose wires that resembled bomb components. When the bag’s owner was found, he couldn’t speak any English and a translator was found: it seems he had just returned from China and was heading down to Florida where he owned a Chinese restaurant. This collection of junk was a kit to build an electric zap gun so he could kill the rodents in his restaurant.